


all the bad men (cop out)

by this_queer_world



Category: Original Work, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Everyone Thinks They're Together, Female Kim Taehyung | V, Female Park Jimin (BTS), Matchmaking, Multi, Other, THEYRE NOT ACTUALLY BTS TECHNICALLY, kind of, platonic soulmates are a thing, superhero au lol im not even sorry, theyre all in the same year just to make things easier, violence i guess? but its not too graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2019-11-21 11:50:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18141818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/this_queer_world/pseuds/this_queer_world
Summary: "Are you sure you don't want to stay here? It would be safer," he whispered in her ear, a worried furrow appearing between his brows.Jae smirked and got into the fighting stance they'd been taught. "Tired of my company already?"Or, a weird mix between a supernatural AU and a high school AU where 4 friends find themselves in the middle of a war that was never theirs to fight. feat. a lot of matchmaking  (I promise it's better than it sounds (hopefully??))





	1. grenade

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!! (PLEASE READ THIS before you read the work or you'll be confused)
> 
>  
> 
> So first of all. This is the first time I've posted anything to AO3 so who knows if I'm even doing it right. 
> 
> Secondly (and this is kinda important), no members of BTS are technically in this work. I wanted to write about Yoongi and Jimin (becasue omg they're so cute) but only like 4 of the characters (Jae, Tia, Yosha and Jack) are inspired by BTS members (in the same order - Jimin, Tae, Yoongi and Jack. You can guess from the names). So this may not be the book for you if you're looking for something that's actually about BTS. Also I swapped Tae and Kook's last names cos otherwise there was too much alliteration (dont @ me).
> 
> It's set at a high school for super heroes. That's about all you need to know, I think?
> 
> Now the profiles - this will be long:
> 
> Jae Shane Park:  
> Nickname: Jaece, Lilac, Shane  
> Age: 15  
> Nationality: Australia  
> Social class: Middle class  
> Religion: Christian  
> Education: High school  
> Distinguishing features: Lilac eyes  
> Eye colour: Lilac  
> Hair: Dirty blonde, pixie, wavy  
> Sexuality: Pansexual  
> Power: Mimic (If she spends enough time with someone she can mimic their power to a certain extent. So far she can use many people’s but not yet Yosha’s)
> 
> Yosha Lee Min:  
> Nickname: Yoshi, Min  
> Age: 16  
> Nationality: Korean  
> Social class: Middle class  
> Religion: Atheist/Christian  
> Education: High school  
> Distinguishing features: Dyed mint hair  
> Eye colour: Hazel  
> Hair: Mint (dyed), short, un-styled ‘wild’  
> Sexuality: Bisexual  
> Power: Empath (can read people’s feelings - the closer he is to the person, the more he can read them. Rare)  
> (Also has insomnia)
> 
> Tia Cosma Jeon:  
> Nickname: T-J, Cosma  
> Age: 15  
> Nationality: British  
> Social class: Middle-High class  
> Religion: Atheist/Christian  
> Education: High school  
> Distinguishing features: Tiny moon shaped birth mark on left wrist  
> Eye colour: Emerald  
> Hair: Auburn, mid-back length, curly  
> Sexuality: Bisexual  
> Power: Kinetic (Psychokinetic energy - Can move things near her with telekinesis)
> 
> Jack Neil Kim:  
> Nickname: Kim  
> Age: 14  
> Nationality: Australian  
> Ethnicity: Caucasian  
> Social class: Middle class  
> Religion: Christian  
> Education: High school  
> Distinguishing features: Tiny star shaped birthmark on right wrist  
> Eye colour: Blue  
> Hair: Black, short, spiky  
> Sexuality: Straight  
> Power: Warrior (Automatically knows how to use any weapon, or use a normal object as a weapon)  
> (he also skipped a year cos he's a smart kookie)
> 
>  
> 
> This could be so much better but then it'd never get posted, so here goes nothing.  
> Thank you so much for reading! xx

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~chapter name from grenade by bruno mars~
> 
> 'Staring at their oblivious friends, Tia and Jack sighed simultaneously. 
> 
> Tia shook her head. “Look at them, they’re basically a couple already! But they just keep denying their feelings towards each other… ugh. I feel their pain.”
> 
> Jack laughed quietly at his girlfriend’s words, agreeing. “No kidding. They’ve been dancing around each other just as long as we were, before we actually started dating.”'
> 
> in which we meet the characters(?)

**Jae’s P.O.V.**

 

The bustling quadrangle of _Ashvale High School for Superheroes: Education and Training_ (ASSET) rang with greetings as friends reunited after the summer break. Pushing her way through the crowd, Jae turned her head from side to side, searching for something, occasionally looking back down at the phone in her hands.

 

**_Jae: Where are you??? I swear I'm the only one here with no friends_ **

**_Delivered 8:06 am_ **

 

Glaring at the screen upon seeing that she still had no reply, she didn't notice the person standing in front of her until she collided with their hard back.

 

“Ah, sorry!” Jae exclaimed as she stumbled backwards slightly and clutched her head, watching the boy in front of her swivel his head slowly to face her. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes narrowed into a glare. When he saw her face, a flash of recognition flickered in his eyes for a moment before his face relaxed into a smile. Despite the fact that he was rubbing his probably-sore back, he seemed as pleased as her to find a familiar face in the crowd.

“Hey, Lilac. No worries. You seen Jack around?”

 

Jae smiled at him brightly, belatedly realising it was Tia’s boyfriend’s friend, Yosha. Tia is Jae’s best friend, and Jack is her long-pined-after boyfriend. ‘Lilac’ was a nickname he liked to call her for some reason, ever since a point in the holidays when she’d let slip (over text, but still) that it was her favourite colour, hence why she died her hair the same colour recently. She tried to ignore the way her cheeks heated up at the nickname.

“Hey, Yosha. Sorry, I haven't seen either of them. Man, there’s so many people here and I can’t find a single friend!” she said quickly, being a naturally fast talker - the opposite of the boy in front of her.

 

Yosha raised his eyebrow.

 

“I-I mean, until now of course! Now I have a friend. Uh, yeah,” she stammered awkwardly, upon realising her mistake. She unconsciously ran a hand through her hair, a nervous habit she’d picked up, failing to notice the way the boy’s eyes followed the movement of her hand.

 

When she glanced up questioningly, noticing his silence, Yosha chuckled and rolled his eyes. “It’s fine. Let’s find the others. I really hope he’s not with Tia already or we’ll never get them apart,“ he spoke in his gravelly voice, “Jack was complaining over text all summer that Tia couldn't text, Tia had no reception, Tia was busy, Tia this, Tia that.”

 

Jae laughed comfortably. Ever since their crazy friends had got together, the two very small friend groups had merged. Yosha’s friend Jack had liked her best (and only) friend Tia for as long as she could remember, but could never get up the confidence to tell her, instead opting to stare at Tia and Jae creepily from afar. Jae had noticed and managed to talk to Yosha about it. They got the two to ‘accidentally’ bump into each other (literally) at a cafe outside school. Yosha and Jae had left, Tia and Jack hung out for the whole afternoon and in the evening Tia came barging into Jae’s room yelling that she liked Jack and would tell him in the morning because she was “emotionally drained”, as Tia had said at the time.

 

_(“YAH, JAE! OPEN THE DOOR!”_

_“Oh my gosh, Tia! I’m coming, I’m coming! Man, you freaked me out! Why are you here? Wait, how did you get inside in the first place??”_

 

_“I like Jack.”_

 

 _“I_ know _tha- uh, I mean, great! Okay, um, was that all you wanted to tell me…?”_

 

_“Well, I’m gonna’ tell him tomorrow at school, ‘cos, y’know, I’m super emotionally drained right now from this dramatic realisation and from breaking into your house. So I need a sleep over right this minute and that is that.”)_

 

Yeah, her friend could be a little crazy sometimes. But they loved each other, they were platonic soulmates after all, and Tia had somehow managed to bring Jack out of his shell. Now they were the happiest (and most disgusting) couple in the school.

 

Anyways. Back to the present.

 

Yoshi and Jae gently (or not) shoved through the crowd to the edge, since Yosha disliked large groups of people. This was one of the reasons why he just stuck with Jack, despite definitely being attractive and ‘cool’ enough to join pretty much any group he wanted. All of them were, really, but they stuck together. Other than Yosha’s family, Jack, Tia and Jae were the only ones who knew that he wasn't as cold and unreachable as he seemed on the outside.

 

They reached the edge of the mass of people, finally, and saw a couple separated from the crowd, over in the opposite corner of the quad. They was too far away to see their faces properly, not to mention said faces were slightly blocked from view due to the _activities_ said faces were involved in, but…

 

“Oh, there they are,” Yosha chuckled, amused, from next to her as she turned to him, rolling her eyes in an amused manner.

 

“Ugh, do we have to go over right now? I mean, it’s obviously them and if we don't go now we might not see them ’til recess, but like I don’t wanna’ see that right now. Well, more than I already have, at least.”

 

Yosha just smirked at her, casually flinging his arm over her shoulders and started dragging her towards their gross friends. She groaned and struggled, trying to squirm her way out of his grip. Although she was only half a year younger than him, he was slightly taller so had an unfair advantage.

 

“No, Yosha! Why…” she complained, dragging out the vowels as she gave up her struggles and allowed the determined boy to take her to her other disgusting friends.

 

By the time they reached the other side of the quad where Tia and Jack had been busy doing… _things,_ the couple had stopped and were instead waiting for Jae and Yosha to arrive, or just notice them waving. The two that were walking towards Tia and Jack were caught up in conversation, Jae laughing breathlessly and holding onto Yosha’s backpack handle while Yosha himself just smirked at the ground and ran a hand through his mint hair. His arm was still around her shoulders as neither of them had attempted to remove it.

 

⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑

 

_Staring at their oblivious friends, Tia and Jack sighed simultaneously._

 

_Tia shook her head. “Look at them, they’re basically a couple already! But they just keep denying their feelings towards each other… ugh. I feel their pain.”_

 

_Jack laughed quietly at his girlfriend’s words, agreeing. “No kidding. They’ve been dancing around each other just as long as we were, before we actually started dating.”_

 

_They both laughed at his statement, Tia shaking her head again._

 

_“Oh look, here they come. Yay, now we can tease them again!” She turned to Jack suddenly, a serious look in her eyes.”You’ve got to back me up on this, okay? In other words, support me, or else,” she threatened dramatically._

 

_The boy gulped nodded quickly. He’d learnt the hard way never to doubt his girlfriend’s words._

 

⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑

 

Looking up from where she was doubled over in laughter, Jae saw Tia and Jack standing next to each other with identical poses and looks on their face. Arms crossed over their chests, faces screaming _Really? You’re doing this but still denying it?,_ eyebrows raised and a smirk firmly planted on both their lips.

 

“H-hey guys,” she managed to gasp out through her laughter, opting to ignore the teasing looks her friends were sending her way.

 

Still next to Jae, Yosha glared at the two standing across from them. “Yah, do you two mind _not_ doing that where we can see? It’s hard to _un-_ see. Impossible, actually.” He mock-sighed and continued, “Not to mention our innocent Jae here was so distressed about coming over here. Unless, perhaps, you just wanted to spend special time with me?” As he addresses the girl, he turned to her and smirked, at the same time fingering the collar of her school t-shirt with the hand on her shoulder. ( _“Ooh, smooth,” Tia whispered, giggling, to Jack_ ).

 

Jae huffed indignantly as she felt the heat rush to her face. To try and hide her blush, she pouted (Tia always told her she looked cute like that, but there was no way she was trying to look cute in front of him or anything), and turned her head away, hiding it in her shoulder. “Y-yah, don't be stupid. Of course not. Who would want to spend time with you, after all?”

 

Yosha’s smirk only grew at her statement, and he grabbed her chin gently, turning her head to look at him. “Oh really? Who would want to spend time with me, hm? I don’t know, maybe ask the girl who’s been talking to me and laughing _at_ me for the last who knows how long, Lilac.” He knew what she would be thinking; she would be wishing that the school’s golden rule didn’t exist, that she was allowed to use her powers outside of class. She wasn't good at getting back at people with words, and she often complained about this as _physical_ was her preferred style of come-backs.

 

Her lilac eyes impossibly wide, Jae snatched her hand away as if she’d been burnt, and her face got even redder, if that was even possible. She attempted to roll her eyes coolly at him, but she’d miserably failed, judging from the amused and smug smirk only growing larger on his face, not to mention the snickers that were coming from Tia and Jack to the side.

 

_Oh, Tia and Jack. They’d been there the whole time, they'd seen and heard the whole thing._

 

_Damn it._

 

Jae turned to face them reluctantly. They were posed the same way as they were before with even wider grins, and Jae tried to comfort herself with the fact that to any onlooker they would look absolutely ridiculous.

 

Tia smiled in a worrying manner. “So, Jae. What’s the scoop?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is, the tragic first chapter of my story. I apologise if it was very boring - the first few chapters are more introductory than anything. The 'action' will probably start in chapter 5-ish.
> 
> Constructive critisism is always appreciated, I know my writing can be improved a lot :)
> 
> Thanks for reading! xx


	2. young dumb & broke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~chapter name from young dumb & broke by khalid~
> 
> ''Curse my shortness,' she thought, and was about to tell Tia that they should just go home when a rough hand grabbed her wrist.'
> 
> in which yosha and jae go on a date~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's like literally a few sentences long... hope you enjoy it never the less!
> 
> Thank you for reading xx

Jae rolled her eyes at the girl next to her and spoke, “Seriously, Tia. There’s no scoop. I mean, I guess we kinda texted a bit during summer break, but other than that…”

 

They were currently sitting in their new Mental Control class, having chosen their seats. Fortunately, their teacher was late, so they didn’t get told off for talking in class.

Unfortunately, their teacher was late, so Tia had time to interrogate Jae about Yosha.

 

“Ooh, you texted huh?” Tia wriggled her eyebrows suggestively as her friend sighed at her. ”But really, Jaece, really? That’s it? I know you so well that I can tell when you’re lying before you even lie. You were never this close before! And girl, he called you Lilac. So spill,” she commanded, using Jae’s nickname to ‘prove' how well she knew her friend.

 

Jae sighed. She tucked her hands under her thighs and lifted her pencil idly into the air with her eyes trained on it carefully. Wincing, she shut her eyes, causing the pencil to drop back onto the desk and roll to the edge as she quietly admitted, “Ok, fine. We texted… a lot, and met up a couple of times. But no, T-J, we did not do whatever it is your perverted mind is thinking of. Now shush, I have a headache,” she added firmly, seeing the teasing glint in her best friend’s eyes once again. Tia just laughed at her.

 

“Hey,” Tia nudged her sulking best friend as the teacher strode in the door, “after class let’s go to the café and get a drink. Ok?” she asked quietly, trying to get a response from Jae before the teacher noticed them talking. Jae sighed and sent Tia a subtle smile, nodding happily.

 

 

 

The café was full of students after school, as usual, all catching up after the long summer break. Loud chatter filled the air as Jae and Tia looked around in vain for an empty table. Jae, after getting on her tiptoes to try and see over people’s heads _(curse my shortness,_ she thought) and was about to find Tia and tell her that they should just go to her house instead, when a rough hand grabbed her wrist and she felt herself being pulled her out of the crowd.

 

“AH! ASSAULT!” she yelled, panicking, before whipping her head around and seeing her captor’s face for the first time.

 

_Oh…_

 

“Your wrists are tiny. Eat more,” the boy murmured, looking at where his hand was wrapped around her wrist and his fingers were overlapping, too much apparently.

 

“YOSHA? WHAT THE HELL!” she screamed before his hand clamped tightly over her mouth and holding both of her hands with his spare one so that she couldn't remove it. He sighed.

 

“What the hell, yourself, Lilac. Now shut up, everyone’s staring.”

 

Glowering at him indignantly over his hand, she struggled in his grip, sending a message of _I will kill you later_ with her eyes. Then she realised he was right, everyone _was_ staring at them. She suddenly felt extremely self conscious about the whole scene and hung her head, blood rushing to her cheeks.

 

“Why is your face so hot?” Yosha murmured questioningly, tilting his head in a way that Jae would've found adorable had she not been busy staring at the floor in the hopes of making it open up and swallow her. Of course, her dumb brain immediately went to the _other_ kind of hot, the ‘attractive' kind.

 

Jae blushed an impossibly deeper red, heart knocking loudly against her ribcage.

She mumbled, “I hate you,” through his palm, and shook her head frantically, not knowing what she was denying but thinking it was the right thing to do none the less.

 

Yosha raised an eyebrow at her before chuckling slightly. “I think you’re going a bit crazy, Lilac. C’mon, come sit.”

 

Much to Jae’s relief, everyone else in the café had stopped staring by the time she and Yosha reached the table he was bringing her to originally. It was an empty, secluded table, in a corner. Happy to be partly hidden from so many eyes, she forgot her plan to kill him and grinned at him, sitting down on the bench opposite where he was lowering himself to sit.

 

**Yosha’s P.O.V.**

 

As he watched Jae look around the busy café for someone, he assumed Tia, Yosha spoke up softly.

“Jack was with me but he wanted to go _who knows where_ with Tia. I guess they really missed each other, huh? I wonder what they’re up to,” he joked, knowing those kinds of jokes made the girl feel uncomfortable, and was not feeling at all guilty as he, satisfied, watched her turn to glare at him with a red face.

 

His demeanour changed dramatically, however, as she, still glaring, wriggled her fingers in the air as if to cast a spell on him. Yosha gulped visibly, knowing that when set off, Jae’s personality changed drastically. She would break the rule (no powers in public, only in protected areas i.e. in class or at home, yadda yadda) and most likely fire a fork at him or something. Telekinetically, of course, as there’s no point doing anything if you can’t be cool doing it, right?

 

He gulped, “Uh, on the other hand, it’s always good to… uh, spend more time with you?” Yosha internally cringed as he hadn't meant for it to sound like so much of a question. Thankfully, it seemed to calm her down regardless, as she leant back in her chair, smirking at him, and in this moment Yosha realised how quickly they could switch roles.

 

Blushing, the boy mumbled, “Yah, this should be the other way ‘round. You’re doing it all wrong, Lilac,”, deciding to throw the nickname in for good measure. It usually worked to make her flustered, but Jae just snickered at him softly, her eyes filled with cruel mirth.

 

As he helplessly watched what she did next, he wondered if she had real control over herself when like this.

 

Jae leaned over the table slowly towards him, resting her chin delicately on her upturned palm and lifting the corner of her mouth into a simpering smile.

Yosha had no idea what had come over her, when she spoke the words, “What, are you against switches?” in the most innocent voice imaginable, pouting. “How sad, _oppa_ ,” the girl continued, and surely upon noticing the way Yosha burst into a coughing fit, she fluttered her eyelashes and leaned back slightly. “Perhaps we’re not meant to be, after all.”

 

(The two had a sort of flirting game going on, where both of them knew it was just friends joking around. Usually Yosha was the one to really do any at all, but _sometimes_ it was the opposite. They both secretly treasured the moments when they managed to fluster the other - in a friendly way, of course.)

 

He gaped at the girl opposite him, not caring if the entire café was staring or if he looked absolutely ridiculous. Trying to snap himself out of it, he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest.

“If we’re not meant to be, I don’t believe the universe has a _clue_ what it’s doing.” He mock-sighs sadly, shaking his head as he says, “Who knows, maybe true love doesn't even exist in this world. I mean, if _we_ can’t be together…” he trailed off, looking down at his lap and seeming altogether utterly miserable at the prospect.

 

Yosha heard a snicker and just barley lifted his eyes to meet hers, smirking at the girl opposite him who seemed to have snapped out of her state. He shot her a smirk and watched fondly as she rolled her eyes, still snorting at his words in a very un-ladylike manner, and decided he liked all of the sides of his Lilac just as much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was okay! Thank you so much for reading my lovelies :)
> 
> As always, any feedback on my writing is very welcome xx


	3. no more dream/anpanman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~chapter name from no more dream and anpanman, both by bts~
> 
> This is what friends are for, she thought as she watched him leave the room with a fond smile on her face. They tease you, but know when to stop. They get you out of trouble just as much as they get you into it. They make you strong, but are there when you need to be weak. They lift you up, and you lift them up in return. 
> 
> or, in which yosha saves our jae from an awkward encounter with a fanboy, and they skip class together~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!   
> i hope this chapter's okay. It's still pretty short sorry but better than nothing..?(hopefully)
> 
> thank you so much for reading :)

**Jae’s P.O.V.**

 

“I can’t believe my parents!” Jae heard a boy across the room explode to his friends where they were all sitting on desks.

 

The sound had annoyingly come over the sound of the music coming though her earphones, which she always called her most treasured possession. This was one class she had without any friends (or people that didn't annoy her to insanity, like seriously, who needs Sanity Manipulation when you’ve got these people right here?), so she was sitting on her own, drowning in confused thoughts and the best music ever, a new single from an artist she’d discovered on the holidays.

 

She huffed in their general direction in annoyance for interrupting her humming, because she’s petty like that sometimes. _I was just up to my favourite part, with the really nice harmony thing that Yosha says I’m good at_ , she reasoned with herself as an excuse.

 

They were talking quite loudly, waiting for the teacher to enter the class, and she recognised the loud boy as one Chad that was in all of her classes (just her luck — he happened to be good at everything and she _liked_ being the best). Jae remembered hearing when she was relatively new to the school, from the gossipy girl she had been sitting next to, that he was the school’s ‘bad-boy’ type who had one night stands with _“like everyone”_ because he was _“just_ that _hot and desired! There’s like no girl or guy here who hasn’t had a major crush on him once, or at least 10/10 wanted to bang,”_ were the specific words the girl had used.

Needless to say, Jae had moved seats as soon as they were allowed to after that incident.

 

Jae could, however, proudly say that there was now one girl, at least, who hadn’t ever been interested in this Chad. Said girl still felt kind of bad for rejecting him in such a harsh way, as it was evident he wasn't used to it from the disbelieving look on his face. She couldn't help laughing internally at the memory, though, she wasn’t _that_ nice.

 

Over time, she’d managed to learn that Chad also was a Mimic, like she was, hence why they were in so many classes together. His mimicry different somehow, but no one was willing to tell her why. So she’d come up with the theory that he could only pick up other peoples talents by having sex with them, and after awkwardly confronting him and asking him about it some time later, she discovered she was right.

 

On one hand, this made her comically relieved, as she could honestly tell Chad that he had no reason to pursue her, after that. Also, there’s the whole _wow, I’m glad mine isn’t like_ that _factor_.

 

On the other hand, she still hadn’t exactly figured out how her own Power Mimicry worked. In principle, it was meant to be something like _if you spend enough time with someone, or if you get close enough to them, or if you get them to teach you about it once, you’ll pick up their power._ Jae herself wasn’t so sure about this, as she could only mimic Tia’s power (obviously) and Jack’s, and only to a certain extent before completely exhausted her. She had tried (and failed) many times to see if she could mimic Yosha’s power yet. These attempts more often than not ended up with Yosha bent double dying of laughter while Jae sulked quietly in a corner, having failed to make him feel a particular emotion, before the boy came to cheer her up. Unlike her attempt at mimicking his power, he always succeeded in that.

 

 

The girl subtly turned the volume of her music, previously blasting loudly, down, in order to be able to listen to their conversation better. She continued humming quietly along to the tune of _Generation Why_ after realising her constant signing had ceased, and that would definitely get her caught.

 

“Like, let me be me! So what if I don’t answer mum when she calls like, _okay, Mum, I’ll go to the library right now if you want me to,_ ” he complained, running a hand down his admittedly handsome face before settling it in his fluffy golden hair in irritation.

 

One of Chad’s friends spoke up. “I mean, I get it from my parents a bunch too, but they're not making me move schools or whatever yours are making you do, like harsh much?”

 

Jae’s eyes snapped up to meet Chad’s already locked on her. She internally groaned, not because she disliked him — in fact, after that really awkward time when she’d asked him about his power and then happily revealed that she had the same, they’d become sort-of friends — but because she knew that the reason that Chad had asked her out in the first place wasn't in fact for her power. He already knew about her power before she told him, but apparently he thought she was pretty or something _(ha)_.

 

He kept eye contact as he slipped off the desk, before turning back to his friends to say “Look, sorry, this is making me mad. I’m gonna grab some air real quick, ‘kay? I’ll be back before class starts.” Declining offers of company from his friends, he continued walking across the room towards Jae’s seat near the door, tapping the edge gently on his way past. He didn't seem put off by Jae’s questioning (and irritated) look as he turned to glance meaningfully at her again before strutting out the door.

Sighing, Jae tugged out her earphones out, slipped them and her phone into her pocket and got up from her comfortable seat after a moment. She followed him reluctantly outside, ignoring the suggestive glances, cat calls and whistles from across the room.

 

“So what’s up?” was the fist thing Jae said to the boy leaning on the wall outside, waiting for her. Upon hearing her voice, Chad turned his head and lifted his lips into a teasing grin as he always did, this time slightly sadder than usual, before sighing and slipping down the wall slightly.

 

“Well, you already heard, didn’t you.” She knew she’d been caught in her eavesdropping when his question was said more like a statement.

Jae looked down uncomfortably. “Yeah. But I didn't hear the full story, I just heard something about you parents and.. moving schools?” Her voice lowered noticeably nearing the end of the sentence, as losing a friend — regardless of how much of a friend they’re considered — is always tough. Chad seemed to notice this and put a hand on her shoulder delicately.

 

“Yeah. But hey, we can still keep in touch? You know, if I can finally get your number, that is,” he chuckled humourlessly, and Jae smiled and laughed along sadly, nodding. Chad handed his phone to the girl for her to type in her number, and as he took it back he purposefully brushed his fingers against hers, looking at Jae’s face to gauge her reaction and smiling slightly at the sight of her reddening cheeks.

 

Jae glanced up at him, turning on her heel, mumbling something about being late for class, before stopping in her tracks upon feeling fingers close firmly around her wrist. She looked behind her to see Chad ( _of course, who else would it even be,_ she reasoned), smirking and tugging her a little closer with each passing second that she just stood staring. He’d never tried anything like _this_ before, despite having previously made it obvious that he liked her — many times. He only stopped when they were stood almost chest to chest, and Jae hated to admit to herself that she really _was_ short next to him, like he’d always teased her for being, as she annoying had to tilt her head at an uncomfortable angle to see his stupidly handsome face.

 

Jae was about to (try to) mumble something (most likely to come out as incoherent) when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway, bouncing off the walls to sound closer than they probably were. She glanced quickly towards it, thinking it must be the teacher finally coming to class and tried to tug her hand free from Chad’s firm grasp.

 

“Wait, Jae, I-”

 

She glanced back at him again, now annoyed, only to find the boy looking at something behind her with a threatened expression. The hair on the back of Jae’s neck bristled as she felt a presence behind her but she completely stiffened when a chin rested gently on her shoulder and arms wrapped around her waist securely. She would’ve turned her head to see who this random person assaulting her was but didn't want to hit her head against theirs.

 

_Wait…_

_Assault?_

 

“Hey Lilac,” a rough, low voice spoke, sending vibrations through her body, “you good?”.

Catching a glimpse of wild mint hair out of her peripheral vision, Jae knew she was right in her assumption; she still had no idea _why_ on earth he was back-hugging her five minutes into class in the middle of the hallway, when his class was across the school.

 

“O-oh, um, yeah. Thanks. Uh, Yosha,” she stammered, realising that she hadn't said anything which probably wasn't helping with _whatever it was_ that Yosha was doing. She was very aware of the warmth spreading from her back up her neck to her face, so she turned her head slightly down and towards Yosha’s to hide her blush from both of the boys .

 

When Yosha hummed in response, it sent pleasant vibrations down her spine that she had to try hard to ignore.

She was easily distracted, however, when he murmured, keeping eye contact with Chad the whole time, “C’mon. Let’s get outta here, _sugar_.”

 

Trying to ignore the way her breath caught in her throat, Jae stumbled along beside him with Yosha’s arms still wrapped firmly around her as he started walking off. It’s not like she hadn't skipped class before, she reasoned as she glanced back to Chad’s scandalised face staring after them. And admittedly, it had been either Tia’s or Yosha’s fault every time she had, so she’d gotten her fair share of grillings about ‘choosing better friends who aren't such bad influences’ and all. Not like it affected her.

Luckily for her, going to a Superhero school meant that they weren’t required to take anything to class — except a pencil for the occasional theory test in particular classes — because she wouldn't have remembered to back to her classroom to get her things if she had had to.

 

 

 

 

As soon as the pair were out of view of a very dazed Chad, Yosha swivelled his head to view Jae’s profile. She still hadn’t spoken a word and seemed reluctant to do so, to shatter the carefully crafted silence, so he took it upon himself to speak first.

“You okay?” He asked her softly, watching her head snap around to stare at him, wide-eyed.

“Oh, y-yeah, um…” she trailed off, feeling as if she should thank him but not entirely knowing what for. “Uh, thanks?” Jae visibly winced at the way it came out, sounding more like a question than gratitude.

Yosha chuckled and said, “No worries. Sorry if it was too much. You just seemed so… uncomfortable …that I could read it from across the school, so I figured it must be something worth saving you from. Guess I was right, huh?” He laughed, glancing back at her face again when he saw movement.

She turned her head slightly towards him and laughed, gasping quietly and bringing a hand up to her chest as if flattered. “My hero,” she giggled, the blush slowly fading from her cheeks as she gradually got more used to the position they were in. “And yeah, you were right. That was pretty… well, _really_ awkward back there, so thank you. So much.”

Yosha’s face turned stoic suddenly and he stopped them walking. Swivelling Jae around using his grip on her shoulders, which she noticed tightened when she mentioned what had happened, he faced her and adopted a serious look.

“Who was he?”

Jae couldn't stop the blush rising back to her cheeks, partly because she was embarrassed to answer the question and partly because he almost sounded _jealous._ Not that she cared, of course. Not at all.

“Just some guy who liked me a while ago, and now he’s moving away and - yeah. His name’s Chad. If you’ve heard of him. I don’t know—“ she’s cut off before she could keep nervously rambling for too long.

 

**Yosha’s P.O.V.**

 

“Chad?” He felt sick. He knew that he had no right to feel jealous, but then… this is _Chad_ they’re talking about. Chad, the guy everyone wants to be with, the most desired person at school.

If they were talking, and they were that close… but his power had never been wrong before, and it was telling him that she was uncomfortable in that situation. So he was confused.

Yosha realised that he’d been silent for too long and Jae was looking at him worriedly, so he regained his composure.

“Oh. Are you guys close?”

Jae shook her head, tilting it to the side slightly as if having to think about the answer. “No. We sometimes talked, but we’re not really close,” she reasoned, then continued cheekily, “unlike you and I, right Yosha?” And she grinned, and linked arms with him, and spun them around to continue walking wherever they were going to get away from school. And he was happy.

 

Jae, who didn't have as much experience with skipping class as Yosha, suggested they go straight to the cafe. When Yosha, extremely amused, told her that they couldn’t as they'd be caught out for wagging, she blushed and looked down. However she cheered back up when Yosha put his arm back around her shoulders and squeezed them gently, offering that they could go to his house.

“Wait, won’t we get even more caught out then? Like, by your parents?” Jae asked, questioning the boy’s logic.

The boy in question laughed, and replied, “Don’t stress. They're away at the mo’, so they don't need to know.”

 

Then he looked at the ground and blushed, shaking his head and groaning at himself. S _he probably thinks you're gonna jump her or something,_ his brain helpfully supplied. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw the girl whose arm was linked with his look at him strangely, before going ‘ohh’ very loudly and laughing, before covering her face and jabbing Yosha sharply in the ribs with her elbow.

The girl huffed out a laugh again before saying, “Okay, Yosha, we get it. You love me, we know, we know.”

He scoffed indignantly, mocking offence. “Yah! What're you saying?” His expression then slipped into a smirk and he tilted his head slightly, wondering if she could guess where this was going. “Unless… you're seeing what you want to see, Lilac?”

 

Jae glared at him, flustered, saying, “Y-yah, you thought of it first, you! Besides you’re the one who invited me to your house, and said that your parents would be away,” she rolled her eyes while speaking indignantly, and Yosha internally groaned in annoyance at how pretty she looked like that, exasperated, with light pink dusting her cheeks.

When she kept elbowing him (she had sharp elbows), he gave in, laughing. “Fine, fine. Blame me. But seriously, if we keep walking in circles around here, we’re gonna get caught for sure,” he thought aloud, raising an eyebrow at his friend. “We’re kinda still outside school. Bit risky, don't you think?”

Jae’s face morphed into one of pure horror, and she quickly whipped around (presumably to check for people who might see them) before grabbing his hand and sprinting away from the ‘danger zone’, dragging him along behind her.

 

Yosha laughed.

 

 

**Jae’s P.O.V.**

 

_Oh my gosh, I’m at Yosha’s house!_

Trying to translate her thoughts into something he wouldn't definitely interpret wrong, Jae said softly, “I’ve never seen your house before, Yosha. It’s really nice,” before cringing from how awkward it sounded.

To her relief, the boy just chuckled. “Thanks. The back part is pretty old, but my mum was an architect so she designed this part of it, and the upstairs. It _is_ really nice,” he smiled at her, and she couldn't help but notice the way the sunlight filtering through the window framed his face, accentuating his fond expression. Jae decided she wanted to see that expression directed at her more often.

_What am I even thinking?_

 

“So, uh, shall we just hang out down here? Wait no, lets go up to the mezzanine,” Yosha decided firmly, leaving Jae to laugh at him.

“Mezzanine? What even is that?” she snorted. “And just so you know, you sound like a spoiled brat saying fancy stuff, so.” Despite her comments, she gladly followed along behind her friend, who said turned around half way up the stairs to face her while walking backwards _(“Yah, be careful, Yosha.”)_.

He grinned and lifted his chin, feigning self-importance, while saying, “Well at least I’m a good looking brat, right Lilac?”

She laughed, rolling her eyes. “Whatever you say, Yosha,” she said playfully, watching his mock-offended expression shift into a mischievous grin. He stopped walking for a moment, effectively stopping Jae, too, so that she didn't walk into him, and tilting his head slightly as if considering something. She tilted her head the same way, confused, and he blinked suddenly and grinned.

 

Jae raised an eyebrow. “You good?”

“Why, am I not allowed to admire your beauty?” He smirked, watching her face heat up, and continuing, “To say no, you’d be depriving me of a great pleasure.” He smirked and lightly chucked her chin, then turned.

They continued up the stairs.

As she was trooping up the staircase behind Yosha, the boy didn't notice Jae’s conflicted expression - trying to decide whether it was worth the effort to tease him back, or just let him have this one. Before, she’d have just chosen the latter option, but now…

 

Obviously, she chose the more fun option.

Stopping once again, on the step right below Yosha’s, she said, “Of course you are, Yosha.” The boy turned to her quickly, shocked that she had replied. Jae stared up at him demurely through her lashes, blinking innocently and taking full advantage of the way the stairs made her seem small in front of him. “It’s a great compliment, after all, to have such a beautiful person call _me_ beautiful,” she continued, wondering when they'd started using such formal language but not really caring. It seemed to be working in her favour, she thought as she watched Yosha’s face flush.

 

Jae tugged on the hem of her school sweater and bit her lip gently as a final passive action, before smirking triumphantly and declaring her victory. Noticing how Yosha only groaned and nodded as though admitting to something he was ashamed of, she snorted and lightly tapped his shoulder, aiming to spin him around for them to _finally_ get off the stairs and up into the ‘mezzanine’. Now that she considered it, that almost sounded like…

 

They reached another, smaller living room type area, and Yosha turned back to Jae with his mouth open to speak. Before he could, the girl asked, “What is a mezzanine, anyway? It’s not like…” she paused, then continued with a scandalised expression, “…a _hot tub,_ is it?” She thought back to the oh-so-famous hot tub scene in To All The Boys, one of the many movies that she totally ‘hadn’t watched’ and blushed deeply.

Yosha just looked at her and then burst out laughing, “Oh my gosh, Lilac, a- a hot tub?” he wheezed, not seeing her glare through his tightly shut eyes. “I’m sorry, this is just… this is great,” he chuckled, looking at her again. “You’re rather forward today, hm?”

 

Jae groaned, mortified, and covered her face with her hands _(damn sweater paws, thought Yosha)_ and then made a strangled noise. Regretting all of her life decisions up to that point in time, she peeked at him through her fingers and scowled fiercely, although the effect wasn't as intense as she'd hoped, most likely due to her flaming cheeks. Yosha just smirked.

“You good?” he grinned, and Jae knew that he knew he'd won this round. She decided to let him (more like she couldn't form a sentence let alone figure out a way to turn his words on himself).

She removed her hands from her face and, still glowering, swatted his arm to try and make him stop laughing. “Yah! You never told me what it was anyway, so, it’s you fault. Spoiled brat,” she grumbled under her breath, not really meaning any of it, and the grin still firmly placed on Yosha’s face made it clear that he knew that, too.

 

When Jae found out that a mezzanine was, in fact, the room she was standing in, she felt extremely foolish once again, but Yosha squeezed her shoulder, smiled, and suggested they play a board game.

_This is what friends are for,_ she thought as she watched him leave the room (“Wait a sec, I just gotta get this game. I’ll be right back.”) with a fond smile on her face. _They tease you, but know when to stop. They get you out of trouble just as much as they get you into it. They make you strong, but are there when you need to be weak. They lift you up, and you lift them up in return._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... i really hope that was alright??
> 
> i always feel like it's okay at the time that i'm writing it but then when im reading it over to post its like wow this is so cringey who even wrote it, y'know?
> 
> anyway, i hope it was okay for you guys :) as always, please comment if you notice any mistakes or anything, im literally too embarrassed by my writing to read it more than i have to.
> 
> thanks for reading! xx


	4. generation why

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~chapter name from generation why by conan gray~
> 
> Yosha felt sick. Their rival school? Collaborating with them seemed like an idea that wouldn't bring anything good at all. But they'd been rivals for so long, what brought it on so suddenly? How is this so-called 'project' gonna work, with the students going at each other's throats?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this! sorry i haven't uploaded in so long... my life's been pretty hectic but i'll try and post a few chapters as soon as i can. i'll be going away tomorrow to somewhere without wifif though so it might be a while...  
> (this chapter is horribly short im sorry but ill try and post the next one right after this) xx
> 
> thanks for reading! <3

Jae groaned, rubbing the sleep form her eyes as she sat up groggily. While walking home from Yosha’s the previous evening, she had finally looked at her phone to put on some new music she’d found and instead found hundreds of missed messages from Tia, and even a few from Jack. She’d raised her eyebrows in surprise, as the latter was quite unusual, before scrolling through them. She'd huffed a laugh when finding that they were all to do with her and Yosha _suspiciously_ missing classes at the _same time_. Rolling her eyes fondly at her friends’ antics, she’d pocketed her phone, deciding to answer them when she wasn't at risk of accidentally stumbling onto the road.

 

The sun was bright — _too bright_ , she thought, grabbing her phone quickly to look at the time and briefly screaming before realising it was Saturday. Fortunately.

Remembering her sleepy promise to Tia last night, Jae dutifully called her best friend, who picked up on the second ring.

_“Jae.”_

She laughed slightly at the other girl’s tone, “Heya T-J, how you doing?”

_“Jae.”_

“…Yes?”

 _“Jae, you and Yosha were both not in class at the same time! That makes sense, by the way. And don’t even try to deny it!”  
_Jae laughed again, rolling my eyes, and said, “Well yeah, I guess we were. And why would I deny it? He just kinda… saved me from a really awkward situation — y’know Chad? Yeah, he’s in that class-” (Tia ‘ _ah_ ’ed in realisation) “- and I didn't really wanna go back into that class after that, you know?”

Tia’s worried voice came clearly through the line. “ _What happened? Are you okay? Did he assault you? Should I stalk him and beat him up for you? I haven't beat anyone up in a while, not since that kid who made fun of Jack, so I’d be more than happy to-”_

She cut her off quickly, reassuring her by saying, “It’s fine. Nothing really happened. It might’ve, though, if Yosha didn't arrive. Not that I can’t defend myself or whatever, I just felt bad for him, y’know? He’s leaving the school and wanted to talk, basically. Kinda.” She hoped that her explanation made more sense to Tia than it did to her, as she’d managed to confuse even herself with her word spew.

 _“Oh okay, good,”_ Tia sounded relieved, _“So I don’t need to beat him up? Either of them?”_

Jae shook her head before realising she couldn't see, and said, “No. You don’t have to beat him up. Yosha _or_ Chad. I appreciate the offer, though,” she laughed at her friend.

_“Okie dokie, then. I gotta go, babe, so I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”_

The blonde, still curled up in her bed and staring out the window, whined at her friend before laughing and joking, “Yah, you really don't love me anymore, huh? I can’t believe I’m the one who decided to get you and Jack together. I’ve lost my best friend to romance,” she said dramatically. Hearing Tia snort on the other end of the line, she could perfectly picture her rolling her eyes and scrunching her nose.

_“Firstly, is ‘romance’ Jack’s new name? And you say that like the same hasn't happened to you… the nerve,” she said, sighing melodramatically, “I really gotta go, though, Jaece, Talk to you later, yeah?”_

“Yeah, no worries. Happy weekend, Tia. See ya.”

_“Byee~”_

Jae put her phone back on her bedside table and laughed.

 

⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑

 _Tia put her phone down and furrowed her eyebrows. Jae was defending Chad, which was a bad sign. And even she herself said that she could've easily stopped him but she_ didn’t _. She stared at the black screen, thinking that maybe she ought to intervene, but then again Jae did say that he was leaving._ Ugh, _she thought,_ this is so complicated. Why can’t they just realise that they're in love?? _She sighed at how oblivious her friends were, and decided to call Jack to rant. He shared the pain, after all._

⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑ ⤑

 

 

**Yosha’s P.O.V.**

 

The day had started off well. Or, as well as it ever did. He’d checked the time, pleased at how much sleep he’d managed to get for once instead of staying up all night like usual. Before leaving the previous night, Jae had looked at him and told him very firmly to _at least try to sleep._ She and Jack were the only ones who knew about his unusual type of insomnia, and when he had shamefully admitted it to Jae during the holidays, she had promised that she would do whatever she could to help.

 

However, it wasn't a good day anymore. His phone had buzzed at around 11am, with a notification from the school. He read it, blinked, and read it again.

 

**_ATTENTION ASSET STUDENTS:_ **

**_Our institute will be collaborating with the Embassy of Villains: Institute of Learning (EVIL) in an upcoming project. Please fill out the attached permission form and return to admin by Friday Week 6._ **

**_Mitchell Jones, Head of Learning ASSET_ **

 

He felt sick. Their rival school? Collaborating with them seemed like an idea that wouldn't bring anything good at all. But they'd been rivals for so long, what brought it on so suddenly? _Well, maybe they got a new principal or something. Or just… decided to stop hating each other? But the students still will so how is this so-called ‘project’ gonna work?_ He wondered, before deciding to stop worrying about it for now and instead make sure Jae had gotten home safely the previous night. He went into the messages app on his phone, and blanched in disbelief at the newest notification he'd received.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're still reading, thank you so much! comments are very much appreciated :)  
> <3 xx


	5. glowing in the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~chapter name from glowing in the dark by the girl and the dreamcatcher~
> 
> For Yosha, being an Empath was normally good. Great, even. But in a battle, against more than one or two people, it wasn’t. At all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here's the next one, so soon!  
> TRIGGER WARNING - this has a little bit of violence (not graphic) and a panic attack so if any of these thngs are triggering to you, please dont read this chapter (i've marked the part before the panic attack so just be aware of that)  
> take care of yourselves, and thank you for reading as always :)

Jae swirled around, flinging a nearby chair at one of the many Villains surrounding her. She simultaneously swung her fist around, having sensed an attack to her left. She felt bones crunch under her knuckles and grimly smiled, then looked around the room with fury in her eyes. They all stared back. They stared, not caring about the bodies littering the floor between them and the seemingly crazed girl with fire for eyes in the centre of the currently poor excuse for a classroom.

 

She briefly took note of how thankful she was for her power, as she once more sprung into action against the multiple attacks coming at her at once. In this instant, fighting for her life, for her school, for her friends, she’d lost track of how long it’d all been going for. Jae squeezed her eyes shut briefly, trying to shut out the maddeningly painful headache this was giving her, and prayed. She delivered a sharp kick to a stranger at her side, and quickly ducked as a spell flew over her head and hit a Villain behind her, all the while praying that this would all turn out okay. That she would get out of this alive, that her family wouldn't be affected too badly, that her friends were okay… but what if they weren’t? What if her friends were hurt, or needed help? _These invaders had better not have hurt them,_ Jae thought whilst trying to get through the force shields that the last few in the room had put up as a defence - so that they could still fight against her, but she couldn't get to them. _Cowards._

 

Jae was furious. All this harm coming to innocent people, for what? Bragging rights? A victory to hold over people's heads? She felt sick. _I need to get out of here._

She flicked her hand at the force shields, and ice blasted from her finger tips, hitting the shields and barely splintering them, however it still had the desired effect, as the resistance the shields created was enough to spread the bast of ice and create a thick wall of ice, trapping the last of the Villains between it and the wall. Jae knew that they’d be able to destroy it easily enough with a heat spell, but it would give her time to put some distance between them.

 

Sprinting down the hall, she came across a few Villains but didn't stop. She didn't have time. Jae found an empty stairwell and slipped in, quickly crating a shield of her own around her. She could afford to use that much energy for now, unlike in the battle, as now she would have time enough to recover. Hopefully.

 

Closing her eyes and trying to control her breathing, Jae thought of her friends and called on her brother’s power - he was a Locate. Seeing a birds eye view of somewhere in the school, she realised that her friends mustn’t all be together as she’d previously thought, as the map she saw was quite large, with a mass of bodies shown, making it impossible to determine the exact location of any of them. _One at a time._ Her mind immediately went to Tia, and she was presented after a moment with a clear view of the Telepathy classroom. _Good._

 

Tia seemed to be handling the situation just fine. With everything in the classroom moving around her to her advantage, she clearly had it under control. There were two boys and another girl with her, who seemed to be helping each other out with the shield of sorts and attacking the Villains. The girl watching the scene almost chuckled, as she could perfectly imagine Tia taunting the Villains she was fighting.

 

 

 

“Tia!” She yelled over the noise, and realised she couldn't compete with all of the screaming and shouting, so she called out to Tia in her head, directing the thought carefully (her mum’s power). When Tia turned around with a suspicious glare which quickly turned into a blinding grin upon recognition, Jae smiled back and asked, _You going fine? I wanna go check on the others but if you really need a hand I can spare a minute._ She tilted her head and scrunched her nose playfully, while looking around to ensure there was no one with her in the corridor.

 

Tia rolled her eyes and yelled out loud, “Thanks a lot, Jaece! I appreciate your offer. But I reckon we’re goin’ fine. Can you check on Jack for me?” and requested, and laughed. Jae forced a grin back to her face, feeling the Villains’ eyes on her and the pressure of _time running out._ She shot her friend a finger gun, before activating her invisibility (her baby sister’s power - it was _the_ _worst_ when Elsie had a tantrum) and slumping against the wall next to the door, searching wildly for Jack in her mind.

She couldn't even see any bodies where her mind showed her.

_The gym._

 

Or more precisely, the fighting section of the gym for Warriors to train.

With lots of weapons.

And in a soundproof room.

Great.

 

 

 

Jae sprinted at the metal lockdown-style door, slamming her shoulder against it with as much force as she could muster, for the nth time. It held fast. She sighed, giving up on the idea of brute force, and rubbed her sore shoulder and hip.

Having dropped her invisibility as soon as she started running to the gym, she once again wished that she knew someone with teleportation, as she was getting out of breath even with heightened senses (conveniently being her primary school best friend’s power - they had great fun sneaking around during class time and being able to know when someone was anywhere near).

 

She groaned in annoyance, before wondering if she could mimic a Lighter. She honestly lost track of most powers when she gained the ability to mimic them, but possibly… if the door had an electronic lock, she could zap the metal door and hopefully scramble it enough to get it open. Hopefully.

 

Although Jae didn't know how to electrify anything, after all she had no experience and couldn't remember talking to anyone about it, she assumed it might be similar to any of the other Elementals. So, remembering how she shot ice from her fingertips the few times she’d used that power, she focused her energy carefully, placing her hands palm-down on the door, and thought hard.

 

_Concentrate._

 

Nothing happened. Disappointed in herself, she huffed, her hair shifting on her forehead slightly, and leant her head against the door, glaring at the floor. _Why can’t I do anything right?_

 

A _zap_ echoed through the room.

 

Jae leapt back from the door, looking on in delight as the metal shivered. She grinned proudly, not bothering to suppress the smile taking over her face. Jae glanced at her hand, and saw her finger tips still sparkling brightly. Looking behind her briefly, to make sure no one had managed to get through the barricade she’d blocked the entry to the gym with, she crept toward the door and cautiously pressed her fingers against it, waiting to get shocked.

She didn’t.

 

Smiling to herself at her newfound power, Jae pushed at the door strongly and almost fell over into the room when it swung open more easily than she’d expected. She huffed a breath, righting herself, and squinted as she looked around the dark room. _Damn,_ she thought, _well I guess I’ll know for next time not to electrocute if I don’t want to kill the lights, too._

Biting her lip and frowning, she tried to decide whether to light up the room or call out in hopes of finding Jack, or whether the risk of a Villain seeing or hearing her would be too strong. Silently cursing, Jae made up her mind and started quietly fumbling through the dark, attempting to be as quiet as possible.

_I don’t have time for this…_

 

She navigated her way to a place in the room where she knew where she was, as she’d had classes in the room before, and confidently stepped forward into what she thought was a clear path, however she stepped on something with a sickeningly loud _crunch_. Jumping back in shock, she crouched down to try and see what she’d stepped on in the faint light coming from the open door. _Glass. A lightbulb, maybe?_ Giving up on her plan, she impatiently held out her hand and allowed flames to flare up on her palm and flicker up her wrist. It always burned slightly, but she liked the feeling. It reminded her that she was alive.

 

She whirled around, trying to spot any movement around her, but upon seeing nothing, she frustratedly huffed and yelled, “Jack!”

 

The sound echoed throughout the room.

 

No answer.

 

Jae felt sick. What if something had actually happened to him? He always seemed so capable, but really he’s just a normal, teenage boy who just happens to know how to fight. _That doesn't make him invincible._

 

Trying to blink away the tears building up in her eyes, she thought of him and called out in her head once more, not expecting an answer but willing to try anything to know for sure if he was here.

 

“Jae.”

 

Jae yelped, hearing her name very weakly come out of the supposedly empty room, and then quickly settled into a defensive stance to be prepared for a fight. Then she recognised the voice, and she stood back up, looking for where it had come from.

 

_Jack? Are you there?_

 

Hearing a faint movement come from her left, a dark corner of the room, Jae ran over quickly, using the flickering light from the fire in her hand as a light to avoid running into anything. As she moved swiftly through the room, she noticed for the first time the battle field that the class had turned into. The cabinets of weapons were overturned and broken, the manikins were burned to ashes or ripped apart, the floor was a mess.

 

Starting to feel anxious, Jae decided she’d find Jack, do whatever she needed to do to help him, and then go, since she’d already spent a lot of time here.

When she saw him, she forgot her plan and gasped, rushing to his side. Jack was lying on the ground, half propped up against a wall and holding his stomach. His face was scrunched up in immense pain.

 

“Jack? Jack, are you okay? What happened?” Jae asked frantically, no longer caring about being heard. Jack’s eyes scrunched shut even tighter but he groaned, which she took as a sign that he needed help. Fast.

 

_Don’t panic._

 

“Okay Jack, I’m just gonna move your arms to see what happened, okay? You’ll be okay, I pro-” She was cut off when she attempted to lift his arms gently and he groaned again, clearly not wanting her to, but not having the strength to protest physically and stop her from moving his arms. Jae felt sick when she saw the damage — his chain mail shirt that they wore in class for protection was soaked in blood, and there was a clear, clean cut through it. She briefly looked around for the weapon that could've been used and quickly identified it — a plain rapier, with blood covering half the blade and creating a small pool around it. She gulped and turned back to Jack.

 

“Uh, okay. This doesn't look too good. Okay, you got this. Just - knit it back together, yeah,” Jae whispered softly but firmly to herself, trying not to freak out, “Yeah. That’ll work. It’ll all be fine.” She wasn’t even sure who she was talking to at this point.

 

Trying to steady her shaking hands, she timidly held them out, palm down, over her friend’s body. Casting a numbing spell, she then lowered her hands, very slowly, down to rest on the cut. Fortunately, the numbing spell had already started to come into effect, as he only hissed in pain, rather than making another dying-noise. She took a deep breath, decidedly ignoring the blood soaking into her black fingerless gloves that she loved, and closed her eyes, getting a sense of the depth of the cut from the image projected into her mind, and winced. _That would've hurt._ Jae figured out how much energy she’d need to use on this and, not hesitating once, let it flow through her fingers.

 

_Tia,_ she yelled in her head after a moment, _we need you here now._ Jae had no way of knowing if her message had got through, as Tia couldn't reply telepathically, but she hoped her friend was on her way.

 

She told herself that she’d stay until was healed, and then she’d make sure he was okay, and then go and check on Yosha. She'd found herself getting increasingly worried about him, but Jack needed her for now.

 

 

“Hey Jack, how’re you feeling?” Jae asked quietly, having just finished the healing process. Jack blinked and nodded wearily, wincing as Jae moved her hands from his wound. The girl winced in sympathy and apologised silently.

 

Moving to the side slightly, Jae looked agitatedly behind her to the door once again to see where Tia was. She couldn't just leave Jack on his own, without any protection, but she was freaking out from not knowing if Yosha was okay. _Tia, seriously, where are you? Are you okay?_ she asked, now starting to worry about her other friend too. _Great, that makes all of them._

 

“Jack, I’m really sorry, but I think I need to check on Yosha now, if you’re feeling okay? I called Tia to come, so hopefully she’ll be here soon… but what if she can’t come? But yeah I haven't heard from Yosha or seen him since this started — actually he might be completely fine and I’d be better off staying here after all… agh I don’t-”

 

Jack cut her off gently. “Jae, go. I’ll be fine, thanks to you,” he smiled weakly, “Just… if you could spell me, or something?” He winced while requesting it, saying, “Sorry. You’ve spent so much energy on me already, but I really doubt I’d be able to defend myself if anyone came in. Maybe a shield?”

 

Jae nodded, hiding her fatigue and nausea behind a smile as she stood and squeezed his hand, before walking away from him and casting the shield, making sure only Tia, Jack, Yosha or herself would be able to get through. It’s not like she didn't trust anyone else usually, but who knows who she could trust at that time.

 

Giving a last small smile and wave to Jack, who returned the smile, Jae rushed out the door she’d opened earlier - it felt like so many hours had passed, but was probably only around 40 minutes. _Still enough time for something to happen to Tia and Yosha,_ her brain helpfully reminded her, making her grit her teeth and clench her fists where they were swinging in time with her rapid steps, causing her nails to dig into her palms. She realised that her palms were still slightly burnt, hence why she didn't use that power very often, but didn't want to waste energy on healing them. Looking back up at the hallway from where she’d been peering at her hands, and almost crashed into a firm body.

 

“Watch where you’re going, you-”

 

“Tia!” Jae could've cried from relief upon recognising the voice to belong to her best friend. “You’re alive!”

 

“Oh my gosh Jae! Sorry, I got caught up on the way here. But wait, why would I be dead…?” Tia tilted her head curiously as Jae, who blushed and shook her head in a ‘never mind’ gesture. “Okay but what’s the emergency? Is Jack okay?” she asked, bouncing on her feet as she anxiously awaited an answer.

 

“Uh… yeah. He’s okay. Got a really nasty gash in his stomach, but it’s pretty much all healed now. I also cast a numbing spell and a shield - that you, Yosha and I can get through, by the way - but he was still in pain when I left, obviously. Reckon you can go and just sit with him? It’ll help, I’m sure, and if he feels safer it’ll be easier for him to rest properly,” she said in one breath, thinking of the time she’d been really sick and Yosha had come and sat next to her hospital bed all day, every day until she was better, and it really _had_ helped.

 

Tia winced at the description of her boyfriend’s injury, and nodded along as Jae spoke rapidly, both girls wanting to get moving. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Thank you so much Jae, you have no idea,” Tia said gratefully, and Jae understood. Understood that she was referring to the fact that if she hadn’t gone, Jack would likely be dead.

 

Jae was glad she’d turned up in time, too.

 

Giving each other a quick hug, the two quickly went their own ways, wishing each other good luck.

 

 

 

**Yosha’s P.O.V.**

 

Being an Empath was normally good. Great, even. But in a battle, against more than one or two people, it wasn’t. At all.

 

Trying to focus his power on the Villain closest to him, he locked eyes with the young boy and sent messages to his head, trying to convince him that he wanted to fight for the other side. Yosha’s side. It was hard, trying to focus on one thing while being attacked from all sides, but he managed to get in enough good punches and kicks that he could send enough friendly emotions to the boy. He saw the change in the Villain’s eyes, and immediately the boy started fighting the others around him.

It always hurt Yosha, to see the struggle in people’s eyes when he used his power on them in this way, but right now it was life or death, so he tried to numb the feeling by thinking of his Martial Arts and Self Defence class that he’d taken with Jae, pretending he was just practicing, or passing a test, or _something,_ and any minute now a teacher would come in and tell him he could stop. Congratulate him.

 

Instead of a teacher, however, the person that burst through the doorway and paused, panting, was a young girl, with lilac hair specifically.

 

Yosha almost stopped fighting and sank to the floor, he was so relieved, but he knew he couldn't afford to stop for a second, so instead he called out to her. “Lilac!”

His voice echoed through the room over the sound of the battlefield, and by the time Jae heard it and raised her head towards the sound, Yosha was stuck back into the fight, deciding to make another temporary ally from the crowd of Villains.

 

He was sweating. It was so hot in the room, with too many bodies in it, filling the space, moving through it. His hair was getting in his face too, but that wasn't exactly what he was concerned about right now. His body was shaking from fatigue as he stared into the eyes of a girl, slightly older than him from the looks of it, this time, furrowing his eyes and breathing heavily.

 

Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Jae fighting her way to him, getting through the crowd quickly. They fought side by side, leaving enough room to swing their arms and legs freely without hitting each other. He could tell that she was getting tired, obviously having used a lot of energy already from the way she was relying more on her physical strength than her power, and wished he could help her, let her rest. But he knew that in a fight, she was infinitely more valuable than he was, although she tired more easily.

 

“Lilac,” he panted, “You need a break?”

 

Jae huffed a laugh. “As in, _you_ need a break, Yosha?”

 

The boy rolled his eyes and admitted defeat, nodding, but not without saying, “You look tired too, though. Don’t over do it.”

 

Jae smiled shyly as she punched a Villain directly in the face and hooked her legs around another’s knees to pull them to the ground, before carrying a 10 kilo weight from across the room and pitching it through the crowd as she stomped on the other Villain’s stomach.

Then she said, “Yeah, actually, good idea. Cover for me?” Yosha nodded, still looking unsure but moving closer to her and mentally directing the two Villains he’d gained control of to protect her.

 

He continued fighting them, giving up on getting any more Villains to their side, and hoped that Jae would succeed with whatever she was doing sooner rather than later. He was _tired._ But he trusted her, and was sure that she could tell how tired he was, mentally and physically.

 

Swinging a fist around for a hook, aimed right at someone’s jaw, his fist came into contact with the Villain’s face right as they froze. Actually, everyone froze, everyone but him and Jae.

 

**Jae’s P.O.V.**

 

Having used a lot of energy already, it was a relief to cast a time spell and know that she could just relax for a while. Jae breathed out a sigh of relief, rolling her sore shoulders and running a hand through her hair before turning to look at Yosha.

 

He was breathing heavily still, resting his hands on his knees and hanging his head slightly, sweat dripping off his forehead to the floor, before he stood up straight to push his hair back off his face and give Jae a grateful smile.

“Thanks,” he said softly, managing to catch his breath. “That gets pretty tiring after a while,” he half-joked while walking to the nearest wall to lean against and sag to the floor.

 

Nodding tiredly in agreement, Jae traipsed over to him and sat beside him, sighing and leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” she said after a while, tilting her head up to look at him, “it sure does. And thanks, by the way, I really needed to stop as well.”

 

It was a comfort, know that nothing could happen to them, and nothing could be happening to Tia or Jack, in that time. It took no energy to hold up the spell, fortunately, so she was recovering quickly, however she didn't want to release the spell as soon as they’d recovered — she wanted an _emotional_ break too.

 

(TRIGGER WARNING - the next scene has a panick attack so please don't read it if it might be triggering to you <3)

 

Looking away from all the bodies littering the floor of the gym, the blood soaking into the wood, she exhaled deeply and moved her gaze to her hands instead. They were covered in blood. Metaphorically and literally.

 

_Don’t panic._

 

She whimpered involuntarily and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them. Yosha didn’t say a word, only put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder.

“I know. It’s not so bad when it’s happening, ‘cause you don’t have a choice, but…” he trailed off, looking at Jae’s pained face sadly. “Hey,” he tried, still getting no reaction.

 

_Don’t panic._

 

“Lilac? Are you okay?”

 

She tried to answer but couldn't move, couldn't talk. Couldn't breath.

 

_Panic._

 

**Yosha’s P.O.V.**

 

_Is she having a panic attack?_

 

Now he was really worried. She’d covered her face with her hands, but he could still see that there were tears running down her cheeks. The only sound he could hear in the eerily quiet room was the occasional whimper over the sounds of her struggling to breath, her hyperventilations making her body shake.

 

_Okay, don’t panic. You can help._

 

“Hey, Lilac, it’s okay. You’re okay. I’m right here,” he whispered as he moved slightly so that he could hug her more easily, before continuing, “Lilac. It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay. You’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

 

This had happened once before that he could remember. He’d known that she didn’t like to talk about her primary school, or her family, but he hadn’t known just how bad it was until he dropped by at her apartment once and found her trembling in a corner of the room. He’d rushed to her side and managed to calm her down, but she’d been reluctant to disclose much information at the time. The next day, however, she’d texted him and told him a few details, saying that it was easier this way that doing it in person. She made it very clear that she didn't want his pity, and he didn't pity her. He understood her, and wished he could help.

 

Fortunately, in this case, he could.

 

_If this gets too bad, the spell could drop. And then I’ll have to protect her, and I’m not sure if I can do that._

 

_Don’t panic._

 

He tried to pry Jae’s hands away from her face, expecting her to resist but realising that she must be so much more exhausted than he thought as she didn’t put up a fight at all.

Trying not to let himself get too worried at this, he said soothingly, “Lilac? I’m gonna need you to look at me, okay? I promise it’ll help.” She blinked wearily, looking at him as though she hadn't known he was there, before scrunching her face again and ducking her head and hiding her face in her knees.

 

Everyone else in the room moving a centimetre before freezing again.

 

Still rubbing her arm in comforting circular motions, he silently cursed and gently held her chin, guiding her head up slowly to meet her watery eyes with his own.

 

Concentrating hard, he sent positive emotional waves directly to her. He didn't know how much longer he had left, but if he succeeded in time then he’d have time to recover afterwards. If not, then… _don’t even think about that._

 

 

“Crap, I’m so sorry. Literally the worst time for this to happen,” Jae apologised as soon as she could, still crying and breathing heavily but able to think, at least. “Ugh, why am I so stupid? I’m so sorry, Yosha, I-”

 

Yosha cut her off by pulling her against his chest, gently stroking her hair until he felt her relax.

“It’s not your fault, Lilac. And you’re not stupid. Not at all. And don’t you remember the time I said I’d beat up anyone who made fun of you? Don’t make me punch you, Lilac.”

 

Jae felt him smile against her hair when she laughed quietly, wishing she could have a better control over her emotions. At least she had Yosha, who was kinda specialised in this.

 

“Thanks,” she said eventually, “a lot.” She lifted her head from his chest and smiled gratefully at him.

He smiled back.

 

She breathed out heavily, and shut her eyes. Jae suddenly shot out a hand, startling Yosha who sat up straight with a jolt. Carefully crafting shields around their enemies with circular motions of her hands, Jae chuckled, “Yah, you’re meant to be the one telling me to calm down, Yosha.”

 

He ran a hand tiredly through his hair, slumping against the wall and laughing softly. “Either works just as well, honestly,” he muttered, smiling when he heard Jae laugh beside him.

 

Too soon, Jae sighed and raised her head. “You ready?” she asked with a wry smile on her face when Yosha scrunched his face up in annoyance. “That’s my answer, huh?”

 

He laughed as he slowly stood up, reaching back with a hand to help her up. “Sorry. I know it’s probably tiring you out. You going okay?” Once she was standing beside him, he lightly ran a thumb over the back of her knuckles, satisfied with his answer when she looked down shyly and nodded.

 

“Alright then. Let’s do this.” He gripped her hand tighter and smiled when he felt her squeeze his in response as they turned simultaneously to face the rest of the room. She raised an arm, flicking her wrist just slightly before everything swung back into motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading!   
> i apologise if the description of the panick attack wasn't quite accurate - i just based it off my personal experiences, both having them myself and helping tohers cope. hopefully it was alright..?
> 
> anyways i hope you enjoyed it and thank you again! comments and feedback are very inspiring and helpful (hint hint...) :)) xx


	6. silver spoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~ chapter name from silver spoon/baepsae by bts ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! hope you enjoy this chapter! a little bit of explanations, a little bit of fluff and some sappy friendship stuff this is sorta a filler chapter but has some hints.
> 
> thanks for reading! xx

**Jae’s P.O.V.**

 

 _Tia -Yosha and I are on our way. I’m assuming you’re both still in the gym._ On second thought, she added _And don’t you dare be making out when we get there._

 

Somehow, after the battle, their hands had naturally found each other, so they swung between them freely as they ran through the corridors of the mostly-deserted school. Well, deserted by the students, anyway.

 

“Okay, so. What happened, before I got there?” Jae questioned, huffing a laugh when Yosha made a pained noise at being asked to talk while running.

 

“Not much. Got the message, went to school on Monday, went to class. We were meant to meet our ‘project partners’, and they all came in and just… started attacking us. But the weird thing is that the teachers that were there didn't even try to help us. They just stood there and let themselves - and most of us - be taken,” he said, frowning at the memory. “It’s like they’ve got a Mind Control on their side, but like, a really powerful one. You?”

 

Jae along nodded, answering, “Same for me, basically. Wait no, something weird happened. When they turned up and started, like, fighting, Chad kind of grabbed me straight away and tried to get me out of the class, and none of the Villains even tried to stop us?” She cringed sightly, feeling awkward bringing up Chad after Yosha’s and her last experience with him, but it was strange and could help them. How, she didn't know.

 

“What a surprise.” Jae looked at him, hearing the spite in his voice, and clutched his hand tighter, asking a silent question.

“Ugh, I just - I don’t trust him, is all. And that’s just strange, that when you were with him they didn't try to get you but when you weren’t, they did.” Yosha paused momentarily. “You idiot. You should've gone with him.”

 

Jae raised an eyebrow and slowed down gradually to a walk. “What? I thought you were just saying you didn’t trust him?”

Yosha matched her pace and glared at the ground, muttering, “I don’t. At all. But you would’ve been safe. That’s more important that what I think of him.”

 

“Aww, how sweet,” the girl giggled, getting her breath back steadily. “But. First of all, why would I go with him? He was just running away from helping other people. And I needed to find you guys, anyway. Besides, I don’t think I’d trust him not to try anything,” she muttered the last part, almost ashamed, and looked up in surprise when Yosha answered.

 

“You know I’d save you if he did,” he said, winking playfully and bringing a blush to Jae’s cheeks, then continued more seriously, “But really. We’d all feel better if we knew that… that at least one of us was safe, you know? Your health is important to us,” he insisted.

 

Jae smiled brightly at him, not bothering to hide the blush rising steadily to her cheeks, and squeezed his hand. “Thanks.” Taking in her surroundings properly for the first time in a few minutes, she froze and said slowly, “Wait - Yosha, where are we?”

 

He looked up, confused, then recognition flashed across his face. “I’m pretty sure this is near the principal’s office. Remember when Tia and I got brought here last year after that, uh, incident? I’d never been here before then, so I’m not surprised you don’t recognise the area.” He grimaced at the memory.

 

Jae bit her lip nervously, murmuring, “Yeah, I’ve never been here, with its wild security and all. What’s with that, by the way?” she tilted her head at him as if considering it for the first time. Maybe the principal was worried about his system being hacked or something, she thought and rolled her eyes. So much for _the generation that’s given up_ , as the nastier teachers like to remind us every lesson.

 

Probably thinking back to his only previous experience with this forbidden end of the school, the boy hummed thoughtfully before answering. “I don’t know. I didn't actually meet the principal or anything, we just had to sit in this empty room for hours. Then we basically just got threatened a whole lot and then sent back to class,” he ran a hand through his hair, which Jae had noticed was a nervous habit of his.

 

Wanting to reassure him, she opened her mouth to speak before being cut off by a sound coming from her right, causing her to whip around to face it with her arms out, ready to fight. Yosha was in a similar stance beside her, and out of the corner of her eye she saw his face tighten when he recognised who it was.

Jae bit her lip and relaxed slightly, still on guard, and addressed the intruder. “Chad.”

 

“Hey Jae, hey…” he trailed off, clearly expecting Yosha to give his name, but was disappointed when he simply gave a curt nod in acknowledgement. Jae gave a small smile in reply and watched (with more satisfaction than she’d like to admit) as Chad’s eyes trailed down to where hers and Yosha’s hands were still joined, for some reason.

Jae gripped his hand tighter, comforted when he squeezed back, but avoided Chad’s eyes when he looked back up with a mostly blank expression, annoyance in his tight jaw.

 

“So, you two are still together, then?”

 

Yosha snarled, “That’s the first thing you ask us? Why am I even surprised,” he rolled his eyes before continuing. “You don't look like you've been beat up, disappointingly, so what's the deal? Hiding out here while the rest of us do the dirty work for you?”

 

Chad looked down at him condescendingly. “If you were smart, you’d be keeping out of danger too, not dragging Jae along with you into all of your battles to protect you - since you clearly aren't doing a very good job at protecting either of you.”

 

Jae saw a flash of hurt cross her friend’s eyes, and knowing he was incredibly insecure about almost everything, countered protectively, “At least he’s trying. You really can’t talk about ‘not protecting me’. And also, who says I want protecting? And I’m more than happy to help him, even though he’s perfectly capable of looking after himself.” She glared strongly, cutting off his weak _‘But I did try’_.

 

Yosha shot her a weak smile before turning her around and whispering in her ear, “Lilac, thank you, but are you sure you don’t want to stay here? It _would_ be safer. He’s right, you know.”

 

Jae chuckled, saying jokingly, “What, tired of my company? Of course I’ll stick with you,” she straightened up and continued speaking aloud. “Besides, Tia would never let me hear the last of it. We've still got to go and check on them.”

 

Yosha smiled gratefully, a silent _thank you_ obvious in his expression. They turned to leave but Jae looked behind her upon hearing a weary voice come after them.

 

“Be careful, Jae. If you want to come back, I’ll be here.”

 

Jae smiled, then turned back to face towards the direction of the gym and ran.

 

 

 

“Ew. Get a room, you guys.”

 

Yosha laughed at Jae’s disgusted tone, nodding in agreement before reluctantly releasing her hand and jogging to Jack’s side.

 

Tia looked up at them, wrinkling her nose and saying, “Well, technically this _was_ our room, before you interrupted,” she paused before her eyes widened comically. “Jae!”

 

Jae grinned at her friend as she clambered (carefully, of course) over Jack and rushed towards her. She opened her arms just in time for Tia to crash into them, causing them to spin around and laugh joyfully at their reunion. It hadn't really been that long, but it definitely felt like they’d been apart for far too long.

 

“Yes, I’m alive, and so are you,” she snorted and Tia smiled her blinding smile in return.

 

Tia spun her around and hugged her from behind instead, resting her head on Jae’s shoulder and whispering in her ear, “And don’t you believe that I didn't see you two when you came in, Jaece, or notice how long you took to get here even after you’d told me that you were coming. I was really worried that you’d been attacked on your way, but from the looks of it…”.

 

Jae groaned in embarrassment, feeling Tia’s suggestive smirk against the side of her neck, and decided not to comment since it usually led to her walking right into a trap. Instead, she looked back to the boy in question, who was kneeling next to Jack.

 

**Yosha’s P.O.V.**

 

Skidding slightly across the floor in his haste to reach his friend, he didn’t even register the pain on his now-burned knees as he crouched next to Jack, breathing heavily. Jack’s eyes flickered open. He smiled and attempted to lift his arm, before wincing from the movement.

 

Yosha hushed him, laying a hand over the other boy’s, and moved his other hand to Jack’s head. He hummed softly when Yosha started running his fingers through his black hair.

“Hey,” he whispered lowly, regret filling his body. “It’s okay, you don’t need to move.” He paused for a moment to collect himself so that he didn't start crying, then said, “I’m sorry. I should've been here. This is my fault, I’m so s-”

 

He stopped when Jack squeezed his hand. _It’s okay,_ his eyes said. _It’s not your fault._

 

They sat together for a few minutes, mostly with Yosha filling the silence by telling Jack all that had happened in the last few hours. When he felt Jack’s hand go limp in his, he started panicking momentarily before seeing the peaceful smile on his face. _He’s asleep._

 

Yosha looked up at his other friends to reassure them, and then smiled upon seeing them laughing and cuddling together on the ground, leaning up against an overturned shelf. He stood and slowly walked over to them, briefly wondering whether he should or shouldn't interrupt, before reminding himself that Jae had told him never to think like that. She’d probably be proud, more than anything. Jae looked up on seeing the movement and sent him a soft smile, patting the space beside her. She was half sitting on Tia’s lap, and when Yosha tiredly sunk to the floor beside the tow girls, she shuffled around to be laying across the two of them.

 

He chuckled. “Is that comfy, Lilac?” When she grinned up at him and nodded, he rolled his eyes fondly and brushed away the coloured hair that was getting in her eyes (and ignored Tia’s smirk that was definitely directed at him). He reached over with his other hand to Tia, ruffling her hair despite her indignant squawks.

“Good job.”

 

It was a simple thing to say, but they all knew how hard that kind of thing was for him. Tia smiled back at him, murmuring, “You too, Yosha,” softly, and he knew that it was enough.

 

 

“So you're saying that this… _this_ is what they're calling justice?” Yosha asked disbelievingly, running a hand through his hair in an agitated manner. Jack nodded while Tia stayed silent, clearly fuming.

 

“You've got to be kidding me,” Jae muttered, feeling sick again. “All of this for ‘justice’? And I thought that justice was meant to be a good, lawful thing,” she clenched her fists. Seeing this, Yosha reached over and gently unfurled her fists, holding her hand for a fleeting moment in what he hoped was a calming gesture, before pulling away, very aware of the two others in the room. Jae relaxed at this, and smiled at him gratefully. He returned the smile before turning back, too aware of the issue at hand.

 

“Yeah. I think that’s what he said, anyway. He _did_ yell it at me when I was kind of dying, so,” Jack chuckled weakly with no emotion, “you know. Could’ve heard wrong. But yeah, apparently.”

 

Tia spoke up. “What did we do to them that’s so bad in the first place? Is there something in particular that they want?”

 

The three others shook their heads hopelessly. “I don’t know,” Jae muttered. “I have no idea what we could've done that was bad enough to make them do _this_.”

 

Yosha tapped his fingers on his knee. “Well, they are Villains. Or Villains in training, at least. They’ve probably always been taught that this kind of thing, especially against heroes like us, isn’t exactly bad, so we might not have done anything bad at all.”

 

At this, Jae frowned. “That’s not really a fair excuse though, is it? Just because they go to a different training facility to us doesn't mean they’re too different… ah, never mind. I guess you're right, and that is why we’ve been rivals with them for so long, after all.” She paused, considering her words. “Isn’t it?”

 

“I’m not sure, actually,” Tia admitted. “I always just assumed it was, but I never thought about why.” Yosha looked down and nodded, choosing to stay silent for the time being.

 

Jae hummed. “Well, thanks for sharing, either way. It’s something to think about. Oh, Tia - you don’t remember your trip to the principal’s office any differently to Yosha, do you?”

 

Tilting her head, Tia replied, “Uh, I don’t know? It depends what Yosha remembers, firstly. And I’m guessing it’s ‘cause you turned up there when you were _meant_ to be coming here, but got too caught up in each other to notice?”

 

“Oh my — Cosma,” Jae complained, blushing and hitting the girl’s shoulder lightly, causing the other to grin evilly. What was worse was the fact that she couldn't really argue, since it was technically true. “And oh yeah, that makes sense, sorry. Yosha?”

 

The boy in question kept his face quite blank other than the small smirk growing on his lips. “I see you didn’t deny Tia’s accusation, hm Lilac?” Satisfied with the reaction he got when she flushed red and stuck her tongue out at him, he continued more seriously. “But anyway. Basically, I just remember getting sent there and you being terrified — don't _try_ to deny it, you and I both know how clingy you are when you’re scared — and then sitting in that one room for ages.”

 

Tia had opened her mouth to protest when he first started speaking, but had looked down sheepishly a moment later. When he finished his small speech, she nodded in agreement. “And then we got yelled at for a while, don’t do it again, your parents have been notified, all that, and then sent back to class. I’m still mad that someone told on us before we got to finish, though,” she glowered, Yosha mirroring her expression.

 

Jae sighed in exasperation. “You guys know that Jack and I appreciate it, and it’s great to know that we’ve all got each other’s backs and all, but do you still not think that it could've been solved a different way?”

 

Yosha turned his glare to her, saying sternly, “Lilac, you both could've been hurt. And pretty badly, at that. They weren’t following the rules and they knew that you two would, so you were easy targets. You can’t just let people get away with things like that - they’ll just keep doing it.”

 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I know what could've happened,” Jack interrupted, sensing an argument brewing in the air between the two. “And, like Jae said, I’m glad you two got there when you did. Thank you for defending us. Just next time, maybe try a more peaceful approach _first_.”

 

Tia scoffed, not saying anything, and Yosha gritted his teeth and huffed a sigh. “Fine.” Tia nodded, and he was silent for a moment before muttering, “And that’s not something you need to thank me for, idiot. Just be careful. All of you.”

 

Jae _aww_ ed, saying sweetly, “You _do_ care!” before laughing and reaching over to hug him, whispering into his shoulder, “Thank you. The same goes for you, too.” Yosha smiled into her hair, making her grin in return. The girl then squeaked when two heavy bodies threw themselves on top of them.

 

Tia’s voice came cheerfully from above them. “Don’t think that you two can have all the fun,” she laughed. “I love you too, Yosha, and all of you.”

 

Jack laughed and agreed silently in his signature style, and Jae looked up and nodded, smiling widely at all of them.

 

Yosha snorted, muttering about how this was _not_ what he planned when he said that, but from their amused smiles he was happy knowing that his friends were all aware of how much they all meant to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, that got kinda sappy...  
> hope you enjoyed it! thanks so much for reading.  
> comments, kudos and feedback are very inspiring and helpful!
> 
> xx


End file.
